Snapshot: The soon to be launched Renault Captur would compete with the likes of Hyundai Creta, Jeep Compass and others. Let us see how it fares.

The Duster was an instant hit among Indian buyers and more recently the Kwid has been able to emulate some of that success. Renault wants to ride the tide with the new offing, Captur, which would most likely be placed above the Duster in the product line-up. And in the market, it would compete with cars like Hyundai Creta, Jeep Compass etc. The car would offer better equipment level to take on the likes of more expensive rivals. Let’s see how it goes.

Design and Exterior

Captur carries a prominent Renault logo at the front and back and you would not mistake it for anything else. Though it offers an impressive 204mm of ground clearance and should be able to manoeuvre over any kind of surface comfortably, it does not look as butch or brawny as some of the SUVs did in the past. And Captur is in fact radically different than the Duster as well, which shares the platform with it. The same is also true for Creta and S-Cross as well which look somewhat soft and city-oriented. The Compass, however, is inspired from the Cherokee and with its overall squarish theme, high-set headlamps and best height (1640mm) looks most menacing of the lot.

With the Captur, as with others, you get LED DRLs, ORVMs with integrated turn indicators etc. S-Cross has had a hard time pulling buyers to the showroom due to its estate-like styling. Nevertheless, S-Cross has the decent footprint and has a longer wheelbase (2600mm) than its arch-rival, Creta (2590mm). However, when it comes to ground clearance, S-Cross is the worst at 180mm. While it should be good enough for any kind of tarmac it does not seem so if you compare it to the others which ride much further from the ground.

Dimensions & Capacities

Renault Captur

Hyundai Creta

Jeep Compass

Maruti S-Cross

Length

4333 mm

4270 mm

4395 mm

4300 mm

Width

1813 mm

1780 mm

1818 mm

1765 mm

Height

1613 mm

1630 mm

1640 mm

1590 mm

Wheelbase

2673 mm

2590 mm

2636 mm

2600 mm

Ground clearance

210 mm

190 mm

221 mm

180 mm

Besides being the longest at 4395mm, Jeep Compass also offers best ground clearance at 221mm. Its wheelbase (2636mm) is only second to Captur which measures 2673mm.

Interiors and Features

Odd one out, Compass uses a combination of black and white colours for interiors, black for the upper dash and white for leather seats and parts of door trims. While it does appear attractive on the whole, it would soil quite easily. The car is well-kitted and offers infotainment system that supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. In terms of safety, you get 6 airbags, ESC, Brake Assist, Roll Mitigation, ABS, Hill-assist etc.

Maruti S-Cross extensively uses black has the simplest layout of them all. The build and material quality seems top-notch and the interiors are functional with many storage places. The touchscreen infotainment system supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto and in terms of safety too it gets two airbags, disc brakes all around and ABS. The Creta uses dual-tone (black and beige) for interiors and offers much better equipment in comparison. You get 6 airbags, VSM, Hill-assist, ABS with EBD. The infotainment like the rest supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay and doubles up as a display for the reverse-parking camera.

Renault Captur is expected to offer a dual-tone scheme for interiors and a similar infotainment system like the Duster. Major differences are expected to be in terms of quality of plastics, equipment and instrument cluster etc.

Engine and Transmission

Creta offers three engine choices – 1.4-litre diesel, 1.6-diesel and 1.6-petrol. It also offers a 6-speed automatic as gearbox option with larger capacity engines along with 6-speed manual. The motors are among the best if you consider the power and torque figures (second only to Compass).

The S-Cross does not offer petrol motor at the moment and neither do you get automatic. Also, it recently pulled out the 1.6-litre engine from the market due to poor sales. So, there's just one motor available at the moment i.e. a 1.3-litre diesel that develops a modest 88bhp power and 200Nm of torque.

Engine and Gearbox

Renault Captur

Hyundai Creta

Jeep Compass

Maruti S-Cross

Engine capacity

1.5 (P) / 1.5 (D)

1.4 (D) / 1.6 (P) / 1.6 (D)

1.4 (P) / 2.0 (D)

1.3 (D)

Gearbox

5 MT / 6 MT

6 MT / 6 AT, 6 MT / 6 AT, 6 MT

7 DSG, 6MT / 6 MT

5 MT

Power (bhp)

104 / 108

89 / 121 / 126

160 / 171

88

Torque (Nm)

142 / 240

220 / 151 / 260

250 / 350

320 / 200

Transmission

2 WD

2 WD

4 WD

2 WD

The Jeep Car gets a 1.4-litre petrol that puts out a healthy 160bhp of power and 250Nm of torque while 2.0-litre diesel is most powerful and puts out 171bhp of power and 350Nm of torque. Diesel offers a 6-speed manual, however, petrol in addition also offers a 7-speed DSG automatic. Unlike the rest of the pack, you also get a 4x4 system and a terrain management system which makes it a true SUV.

Verdict

The Jeep Compass comes at a premium and with a price tag of around Rs 21 lakh (ex-showroom) for the top variant it isn’t exactly cheap. At this price, features like cruise control, sunroof etc. are glaring omissions in our opinion. However, you still get a lot of features and one of the safest cars that also happen to have a tremendous off-roading capability. If budget is not a constraint, it’s the Jeep Compass that would be our pick.